Fleksy gets update, price drops to free forever

While iOS’ autocorrect feature is fairly competent, there are undoubtedly times when users have wished that its text prediction was much improved. Enter Â Fleksy, the iOS app released last year where the developers called itÂ the “most powerful text prediction engine out there”, has been embraced by thousands of users who are able to type on their iPhones and iPads without having to even look at the keyboard. The app was after all designed with the visually impair in mind. With its most recent update (new gestures, new menu and increased accuracy), the devs have also announced that the app has gone free (the full version was previously $4.99) – now and forever.

Fleksy was first released on iOS in July 2012. As we turn Fleksy into a free app 8 months later, we feel we are starting an exciting new chapter in our story, and we take some time to explain our decision.

Fleksy started from our own frustration when typing on todayâ€™s touch-screen devices â€“ a frustration shared by two thirds of smartphone users today. Right from the start, we felt that typing was one of the functions that made smartphones feel not so smart.

We set the bar really high â€“ a typing system that is so intuitive, you donâ€™t have to always look at the screen to type. Just as you do on your laptop. And thus Fleksy was born.

We looked for a market to launch our technology to â€“ a group that we felt would most benefit from our inventions, and arguably a group of users that would challenge us to keep innovating until we deliver on our promise.Â So we launched an app for blind users.

In a space of a just a few months, our users have propelled us from an accessibility app to being recognized as a mainstream technology and one of the biggest innovations to come to mobile devices in a while.

…

We realize that a good virtual keyboard is something users expect to be integrated on their device and be available in every application. This is by far the biggest request from our iOS users, and one that we can unfortunately not provide until each platform we target supports such functionality.

In our effort to bring Happy Typing to even more users, what weÂ canÂ do is make Fleksy on iOS free for everyone. We feel that making Fleksy part of the daily lives of many more people will help us continue to showcase how smartphones can be made both more accessible and useful for everyone.

Fleksy’s text prediction does work surprisinglyÂ well, and after a bit of practice, I was able to type out sentences without having to eyeball the keys. More advanced users can even make the entire keyboard invisible and still be able to type with ease. Keep in mind that while it’s a QWERTY keyboard, new users will likely have to get to used to the interface. There’s no spacebar, shift or numbers. For those, you’ll need to use gestures and long taps.

Now that the app’s gone completely free, you can take Fleksy and it’s full set of features for a spin. It may not be for everyone, but it’ll surprise you just how much you can type on your iDevice without having to look down on your screen.